New Dragonfly Species Discovered in Brazil
Posted on October 26, 2016
Scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of dragonfly in Brazil. It has a bluish waxy body coating and brown spots on its wingtips. The species has been named Erythrodiplax ana.
The species was discovered in 2011 near a spring on the Itororó Ecological Reserve in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais State. The dragonfly species was identified during the PhD research of Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira.
Ferreira, assistant professor at the Federal University of São Carlos's Center for Biological & Health Sciences (CCBS-UFSCar), says in the announcement, "The discovery is important above all because of the site where the species was found. The nature reserve contains a vereda, a palm swamp wetland that provides part of Uberlândia's water supply. The discovery of a new species in an urban area and with a habitat linked to a spring used to draw off water shows how little we know of Brazil's biodiversity."
Ferreira also says dragonflies are a good environmental indicator. He says, "When you find these insects in the wild near a watercourse, it means the water's good."
A research paper on the dragonfly species was published here in the journal, Zootaxa.